User blog:Foxwells/Guide: Good Classes for Races
Most guides tell you what races are good for what classes. But I've never really seen the opposite, where they list races but tell you what classes would fit. This was a problem when I wanted to play a wood elf but couldn't figure out what class they're good for. So, this guide as come to be. This guide does not list the previous versions of released subraces. Eg, MToF updated Duergar, so it will be found there and not under SCAG. When in doubt, use CTRL+F. __TOC__ Player's Handbook *'Hill Dwarf:' Tired of your druid dying? Well be tired no more! The constitution and hit point increase is fantastic. Clerics and rangers will appreciate the wisdom increase. Honestly, a monk might like this too. The dwarf package in general is great. *'Mountain Dwarf:' Hello, barbarian. Or fighter. Or STR paladin or cleric. Or literally anything wanting strength. Everyone wants constitution, so we ignore that. If you roll well enough and can afford to spare the ASI, wizards and other squishes will definitely like the access to armor and more CON. *'High Elf:' Okay so we all know what they're good for but I'll list anyway to humor this list: Wizards, arcane tricksters, certain eldritch knights or dex fighters, mystics, rogues, artificer etc etc. *'Wood Elf:' Look... monk. It gives you more speed. Monks gets lots of speed. This gives them even more. Other than that, the usual wisdom lovers. Cleric, druid, probably even rogue. *'Drow:' Everyone whines about sunlight sensitivity. Look: drow literally come with a way to combat that. Faerie Fire. This spell is so godly. Anyway, sorcerers, warlocks, paladins (would Lolth have paladins though?), bards, rogues, probably more. I say sorcerers and warlocks the most because of those weapon proficiencies. *'Lightfoot Halfling:' Rogue. Moar stealth. Besides that, any of the charisma casters could like this. Except paladin, probably, since they tend to use heavy weapons. *'Stout Halfling:' I think pretty much everyone can do with more DEX, CON, and poison resistance. That said, I'd only suggest casters or rogue take this. *'Human:' I wouldn't use a normal human for anything and neither should you. *'Variant Human:' Now this... this is why humans are redeemable. Feats are so, so good, and yes, are worth losing possible darkvision for. There are so many builds and possibilities here. Every class can be a variant human. *'Dragonborn:' Paladin, probably. The right kind of fighter too. Fighters are versatile enough. A hexblade warlock might be interested. *'Forest Gnome:' Just go for deep gnome, honestly. It gets better stuff. If you insist: Wizard, mystic, artificer, arcane trickster, etc. *'Rock Gnome:' I still advocate going deep gnome, but these guys can make some great eldritch knights. *'Half-elf:' Bard, sorcerer, and rogue. Probably warlocks. Could do paladin. Honestly, just about everyone could be a half-elf. They're more versatile than humans and have better bonuses. *'Half-orc:' Fighters, barbarians, probably hexblade warlocks, paladins and clerics if you wanted, they're pretty versatile despite their racial ASIs. Relentless Endurance is really nice. *'Tiefling:' Everyone's favorite. Everyone as in people, not classes. Tieflings are best at CHA-based classes, especially spellcasters who need resistances and want a boosting to their spellcasting. So basically, sorcerer. Warlock and paladin are good too. Bards will love tiefling. I've seen a tiefling mystic, though to be fair, he just wanted to specialize in CHA for the funsies. Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide *'Ghostwise Halfling:' Introducing: cleric, ranger, and druid halflings. *'Keen Senses Half-elf:' Why on earth would you swap two skills for one? Go sit in the corner and think about your mistakes. *'High Half-elf:' I guess if you need an extra cantrip that doesn't rely on attack rolls or want to use a shortsword or shortbow, here's your chance. *'Wood Half-elf:' I wouldn't use this for anything. Maybe a rogue who wants more speed, because they can afford to forgo the skills. *'Drow Half-elf:' Rogue. Yes. Do it. You don't need those two skills and you get access to Faerie Fire. You want Faerie Fire. You are a rogue and you love advantage. *'Aquatic Half-elf:' If you take this, I reserve all rights to make fun of you. Literally only consider this if you're in an aquatic campaign. Even then, is it worth it? Is it? *'Feral Tiefling:' A whiplash from the CHA-based funsies of vanilla tiefling. Wizards, eldritch knights, arcane tricksters, artificers, and more all just got opened up to tiefling. *'Winged Tiefling:' Infernal Legacy kinda sucks so if your DM allows this: take it. *'Devil's Tongue Tiefling:' I mean, you have the CHA for it, and if you aren't a bard, this is a one-way ticket to the best cantrip in the entire existence of D&D. Combine with divine sorcerer to really confuse your party on what your class is. *'Hellfire Tiefling:' It's not bad, but it's not good, either. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. I'd personally just stick with Hellish Rebuke since it's pretty useful, but an AoE cone is nice when you're against a hoard. Volo's Guide to Monsters *'Aasimar:' These guys were made to be paladins. That's just a fact. Besides that, sorcerer, warlock, and bard, primarily. Resistances, darkvision, healing, and more! Any face character will like the +2 CHA though, so if you aren't those classes, check out the subrace ASIs. Maybe you'll get something anyway. *'Firbolg:' Well, not to quote Volo's or anything, but druid or ranger. Clerics will also love this race. Actually, this race is probably better for clerics than it is for druids and rangers. Still, aesthetically speaking, druid. *'Goliath:' Some races were just meant to be fighters or barbarians. The goliath is one of them. If you roll real well and can afford to forgo race ASI, strength clerics, paladins, and hexblade warlocks would be interesting. *'Kenku:' Weren't these written to be rogues? Why do they get a plus to wisdom? I still suggest rogues, but ranger and monk are also viable options. I can't say much for clerics. *'Lizardfolk:' The ASI says cleric or druid or something but the everything else says literally anyone. The +2CON with the natural armor is reason enough for any class to take this, especially if you don't get good armor. *'Tabaxi:' Rogue. Or bard. Or a rogue/bard. Or a sorcerer or warlock if you wanted, or a paladin if you're DEX-based. I've also seen fighter tabaxi. But mostly, rogue or bard. *'Triton:' They're pretty good for just about any class, considering the versatility of their ASI. The spellcasting ability tells me they're best as CHA-based characters, though. *'Bugbear:' Much like the goliath, bugbears were just made to be fighters or barbarians. Clerics, paladins, and hexblade warlocks could like them under the right builds. A strength rogue might want to look into this, considering long-limbed, surprise attack, and stealthy, but do people actually make strength rogues? *'Goblin:' Apparently, goblins make great rangers and rogues. Fighters will probably like bonus action disengaging. I can't see a sorcerer or wizard complaining either, but they can do better. *'Hobgoblin:' I, uh... wow, these would make great wizards. Armor and some emergency weapons is really good. I'm sure other classes like artificer, mystic, and arcane trickster might like it too. Eldritch knights need not bother because the only benefit you'll get is Saving Face and it's not worth it. *'Kobold:' Rogue, probably. You can make a case for sorcerer, wizard, warlock, bard, etc etc etc. Sneak Attack comes built in with Pack Tactics, though, so jot that down. *'Orc:' You do not see Grogg. Jokes aside, they're meant for fighting, so choose something that hits others really hard. Or go Grogg if you're just Like That. *'Yuan-Ti Pureblood:' Tiefling stats, but more languages, poison immunity, and some spells? Oh, and advantage on saving throws when it comes to magic. Yeah, that's good. CHA-casters will love this. Actually, any CHA-based character will love this. Swashbuckler comes to mind immediately. Elemental Evil *'Aarakocra:' Any class will appreciate flying, but druids and monks will love the ASI the most. Clerics and rangers might get some use, but the "no medium or heavy armor" clause on flying says you have better options. *'Air Genasi:' How does constitution work as a spellcasting ability...? Uh, anyway. Rogue. Squishies who rolled like gods and can afford to not need a boost to their primary stat. *'Earth Genasi:' Fighter, barbarian, paladin if you can afford it, the usual for things that get CON and STR. The no difficult terrain is really nice when you need to charge something. *'Fire Genasi:' Hear me out: wizard. They love constitution. They love intelligence. Resistance to a super-common damage type is great when you easily die. And free spells. Arcane trickster and eldritch knight will also appreciate the fire genasi, especially with such limited spell selections. *'Water Genasi:' They're just asking to be clerics, man. I mean, I guess you could do another wisdom based character like monk, druid, or ranger, but being an Umberlee cleric with the sailor background is just so easy. You might as well. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes *'Duergar:' Barbarian incoming! Dwarves even get their own subclass in barbarian. If you really don't want to play a barbarian, consider fighter, STR cleric/paladin, really anything that needs strength. Every class needs constitution so we're not talking about that. *'Deep Gnome:' Wizard, mystic, artificer, and arcane tricksters. Next question. *'Eladrin Elf:' I'd divide these up by season, but that really doesn't matter. Teleporting is really, really nice. It's a free Misty Step once per short or long rest. I can't think of a single squish who wouldn't want that. Or even non-squishes. If you want specifics: Sorcerer, rogue, warlock, and bard. *'Sea Elf:' I wouldn't ever use this race but uh, most everyone likes dexterity and consitution. Rogues and the squishies probably like it. If you're a wizard who ever wanted to chuck nets at things, there's your chance. *'Shadar-kai Elf:' In an attempt to stay objective and not yell about how I love this subrace, I'll keep it short of fluff. Rogue, warlock, sorcerer, wizard, mystic, monk, barbarian, probably most everything. *'Githyanki:' I don't care for gith, but eldritch knights will get good use out of this race. You have all the weapons and armor you need, but free spells and more strength for when you whack things! Wizards and other squishes might want to consider this too, if they can spare the ASI. Access to armor and some basic weapons never hurts. *'Githzerai:' On the one hand, it absolutely makes sense for something to have wisdom and intelligence increase. On the other, not much can work with it. Wizards and mystics get proficiency in wisdom saves and use intelligence, so they can take a nice look at this. Any class that's wisdom based likes more wisdom, and free spells and advantage on saves is good. *'Baalzebul Tiefling:' Ah, Baalzebul. It is just as bad as it was in UA. It gives you worse spells than vanilla tiefling. *'Dispater Tiefling:' I wouldn't pick it over other options, but the +1DEX is a good replacement for INT, and the spells aren't bad. They're just not great. *'Fierna Tiefling:' If you're a face WIS-user, go nuts. Otherwise, pass over this. *'Glaysa Tiefling:' Good spells, good ASI. A solid pick over vanilla for CHA casters. *'Levistus Tiefling:' Being a phoenix sorcerer while also hailing from Levistus is funny. Anyway, you can't really go wrong here, you get more spells and some CON. *'Mammon Tiefling:' Baalzebul but its spells are bad in completely different ways. *'Mephistopheles Tiefling:' Spite of how complicated that name is to write says no class should use this race. Objectively speaking though, all it really does is take away Thaumaturgy (one of the funniest cantrips because you can scream at everything) and Darkness, and replace it with Mage Hand and Flame Blade. Which I mean if you want a fire sword instead of a shadow sword but only once a day, go for it. *'Zariel Tiefling:' AKA paladin tiefling. Or if you aren't a paladin but are still taking this for some reason, occasional paladin tiefling. One-per-long-rest paladin tiefling. Could mix decently with hexblade warlocks. Miscellaneous *'Tortle:' Look, if you're this far into the guide and you aren't expecting me to say cleric, I don't know what to tell you. I'm not sure why a druid or ranger would need strength, but the AC is nice. If you're a wizard or sorcerer and are panicking about AC, this is one weird way to secure it instead of just using Mage Armor like a normal person. Plane Shift Series Amonkhet *'Ibis-Headed Aven:' Wizards. Mystics might like it if they aren't using medium armor. Arcane trickster rogues will absolutely love flying. Eldritch Knights can skip over this because they won't be flying. *'Hawk-Headed Aven:' Monk monk monk monk monk monk-- *ahem* Druids will like this. Light armor rangers will too. Clerics are better off somewhere else. *'Khenra:' I wouldn't use khenra at all, and I have no idea what a khopesh is, but I guess fighters, barbarians, and any strength user could make use of this. Lucky feat and frightened immunity is good. *'Minotaur:' A half-orc, but now you have horns. *'Naga:' As much as I just want to make my description be "snakey snakey" and list off classes, nagas are actually really good. You get two natural weapons and immunity to poison damage, as well as a small burst of speed when needed. A lot of classes could use this, but mostly the ones based in CHA will like it. Paladins especially, since they tend to have good STR. Innistrad *'Gavony Human:' Instead of using this race, consider: don't. *'Kessig Human:' I was about to make fun of this one, but that speed and stealing the swashbuckler's Fancy Footwork is amazing. Monks will so love this. Anything that uses Wisdom and Dexterity will also like it (Cleric, Ranger, etc). Honestly, even if you don't use Wisdom, you still use Dexterity and that's a good reason to me. *'Nephalia Human:' Eh. Rogue and bard, I guess. They love to skill monkey. Wizards, charisma casters, etc could possibly use this if they wanted, but I'd rather take variant human or something with darkvision. *'Stensia Human:' This wasn't noteworthy until I saw the free Tough feat, to which I must say: heck yeah. Fighters and barbarians just became so much tankier. Clerics, paladins, artificers-- I'll even toss in that mystics and squishies might like it if they're really worried about HP, though I will say that variant human gives you a free feat (which you can use on Tough) and you get to pick your skill and ASIs. Ixalan *'Goblin:' Get some dexterity and a climbing speed. You lose 5 feet of speed and nimble escape though. I guess some rogues might want it. *'Blue Merfolk:' Probably meant to be a wizard, considering the "choose a cantrip from the wizard list". The +1CHA goes to waste, but eh. +2INT, baby! Yeah! Mystics and artificers also look this over and see what you like. *'Green Merfolk:' Have you ever wanted a wood elf that was slower but could swim? Now's your chance. *'Orc:' They use half-orc's traits, so go look at that. *'Siren:' Take a guess what a +2CHA flying species is good for. Take a wild guess. And land on sorcerer, bard, and warlock. *'Vampire:' Objectively better than the Zendikar vampire in every way, unless you really need +1INT for some reason. In any case, the usuals. CHA casters, face characters, anyone in need of a bit of WIS and some stable HP fun to freak your party out with. Kaladesh *'Aetherborn:' The half-elf of the Plane Shift series, but slightly worse. At least you have a spooky ghost aesthetic. Warlock, sorcerer, bard, and any face character should look into these. I wouldn't advise using the gift feature unless your party really lacks healing. *'Dwarf:' So... hill dwarf? Got it. Cleric, ranger, druid... Just go look at hill dwarf. It's really just that minus free weapon proficiencies. *'Bishtahar/Tirahar Elf:' Literally just wood elf. *'Vadahar Elf:' Wood elf, but no extra speed or hiding abilities and instead a druid cantrip. I wouldn't take it unless you're doing a build that really likes shillelagh or thorn whip, though. *'Vedalken:' Probably just wizards. They seem like knock-off brand elves and elves are generally best as wizarding. Mystics would probably love the Cunning, since it really eases up the risks with swapping your WIS proficiency. Zendikar *'Joraga Elf:' Great for monks! It's like wood elf, but instead you get +2WIS! *'Mul Daya Elf:' This is a bit of a weird one. I'll say cleric. Druid and rangers don't really use strength. It's basically a worse drow, so honestly, I overall say go somewhere else. *'Tajuru Elf:' Face cleric, druid, or ranger, go go go! *'Grotag Goblin:' Okay, so a useless CON bonus and no nimble escape, it's a worse PHB gobl-- hello what's this about resistance to fire and psychic damage, and natural AC? Wizards and sorcerers, line up! A lot of classes shouldn't bother due to goblins being Small and them using big weapons. If you don't use heavy weapons though, go for it. *'Lavastep Goblin:' Same as grotag but now you suck with animals and get better stealth sometimes. Still, I'd say wizards and sorcerers should take this over grotag, because all you get with grotag is animal handling and that's best left to druids. *'TukTuk Goblin:' Same as lavastep, but you swap better stealth for sometimes with thieves' tools. If your party lacks a rogue, pick this up. *'Kor:' I'm not impressed by any means by the kor, and the no heavy armor on climbing instantly strikes out cleric, paladin, fighter, and a lot of others. Still, if you want a halfling that's normal size, good to look at. Go check out the halfling subraces for suggestions. *'Cosi Merfolk:' Interesting ASI divvy. Honestly, they wouldn't do bad for arcane tricksters if you roll well enough. Probably meant to be a CHA caster like sorcerer or warlock though. Paladins might like it if they've any decent dexterity. *'Emeria Merfolk:' You heard the racial traits, folks, druid it is. Or cleric. Or ranger. Or the WIS users in general. Merfolk don't offer much. *'Ula Merfolk:' Much like the blue Merfolk, wizard. Or anything that just kinda uses INT as its main thing. Mystic, artificer, what have you. *'Vampire:' Just use Ixalan's version. Why do you need the +1INT? What makes it worth not having Feast of Blood and Vampiric Exultation? If you want +1INT +2CHA, go look at Tiefling. It offers way more than Zendikar's vampire. Unearthed Arcana *'Avariel Elf:' Well, your ASI is cut short to just +2DEX, but you get flying, so that's good. Rogues, sorcerers, wizards, bards, monks, druids-- y'know what let's just say "any class that likes dexterity and doesn't use medium or heavy armor" and call it a day. *'Centaur:' These guys are overrated. I blame the new UA hype. Anyway, STR clerics will probably like centaurs. A monk could like the speed if you don't mind the complete waste of +2STR. Druids and rangers should probably go somewhere else. *'Changeling:' Revised Changeling is a step above the old UA, offering more abilities and more skills. I still wouldn't suggest it for anything but a face rogue. *'Grugach Elf:' I wouldn't suggest anyone use this. If you're really set in it, uh, barbarian? Something that likes strength and dexterity. I'd jokingly toss fighter, paladin, cleric, etc, but the only thing it has going for it is the weapon training and the druid cantrip and I don't think even barbarian gets use of those. *'Loxodon:' Elephants, huh. They have some pretty sweet abilities for spellcasters (especially those who don't use armor), and their ASI is unspecific but that makes it much more viable to multiple classes. *'Minotaur:' They re-released this and I'm still not impressed. Goring Rush is far too situational and Hybrid Nature makes you subject to spells that target humanoids and beasts. Hammering Horns is its only redeeming quality. Anyway, fighter, barbarian, paladin, cleric, and any other STR-based character. *'Revenant:' They're good at not dying since they're already dead, but it kills subraces or variant!human's feat. I wouldn't suggest using this race at all. That aside, well... It can be used for anything, since it's meant to be anything. *'Shifter:' More skills and better (though less) shifting options come with the new UA. Very few classes don't like a DEX boost and the subraces are all very different, meaning just about any class could take up Shifter. I for one like the idea of a Swiftstride rogue. Wildhunt is asking to be a Ranger. Overall, nice. *'Simic Hybrid:' I really don't know what to say about these. Their ASI is blank enough and they have too many variables with their subraces to give it any specific class. *'Abyssal Tiefling:' Boost your CON instead of a useless point to INT, get more HP whenever you level, and get some fun randomized spellcasting. A normal tiefling, but so much better. *'Vianshino:' The coward's fire lizardfolk. Eh, Barbarian and Fighter would get use from the ASI. Probably some others. But I overall wouldn't recommend this race. *'Warforged:' Revised and better than ever, but as the old version said: Things made for fighting are generally best at fighting. That said, Skirmisher would be, like, really nice for classes such as Druid or Warlock who get some armor proficiency and can make actual use out of Integrated Protection. Unfortunately, it falls short for the armorless spellcasters, so look elsewhere if you're playing one of those. Category:Blog posts